Your Next Ray-Bans Could Be Google Glass

When Google Glass announced late last night that they were partnering with this brand called Luxottica, some people might've taken to the search engine to figure out what that meant. But us? We had a decent handle on the implication. Luxottica is sort of the be-all and end-all of eyewear: They own Ray-Ban, Oakley, and Persol, and currently have the licenses to Chanel, Burberry, and Prada glasses, just to name a few. So the subtext of the news was loud and clear—Google Glass is really, truly going mainstream.

A release from Luxottica pinpoints two of their most famous brands, Ray-Ban and Oakley, as the ones that "will be a part of the collaboration with Glass," though they don't rule out the idea that more of their brands could be involved in the future, too. Regardless, it seems like a smart way to bring Google Glass to the masses, with way more staying power than any of Google's stunts have had before (hi, Diane von Furstenberg wearing the frames on her fashion show runway).

Although, to be honest, one part of the news confuses us: Google Glass and Luxottica promise to couple "high-end technology with avant-garde design, offering the best in style, quality and performance." But really, "avant-garde design" isn't totally what we're hoping for here. It's that the classics—the Oakley Frogskins, the Ray-Ban Aviators—will get the Google Glass update, but keep the same outside shell, so maybe, just maybe, it'll help transition us to the idea of wearing a computer an inch away from our retinas. Oh, and that Google Glass-ified versions of our favorite frames won't be as easy to leave on a brunch table or forget in the cup holder of a car as our usual pairs of Wayfarers or Aviators always, always seem to be. (Regular Google Glass is projected to cost around $300 when it's available to consumers, and we can't imagine the Ray-Ban or Oakley versions will be all that much cheaper.)